The Wizard Of Swamp Alley

Madame Poulette fell through the back of her armoire, and she was in another doll land.

The “Queen” of this unknown land saw Poulette still floating on the magic quilt above, only a few feet away from the back of the broken armoire that looked like a black hole in the air. She yelled at everyone in her slipping accent to ‘not let the Wizard out of the back room’.

“You hear me! I told you to make sure that that Wizard stays in that back room. Don’t no one let him out!” yelled the wicked Queen in a screeching voice. “And get them steel balls out. Shoot that doll down from that sky. I heard about them. They from the other side. I want the stuffin pulled out of her when you shoot her down.” The mean Queen was very angry and annoyed. “You hear me. Shoot her down with them steel balls!”

When Poulette heard this, she swiftly turned her magic quilt back for the opening in the back of the armoire. When she entered into her own place, back in the Land of Sha Bebe, the back of the armoire closed shut, leaving her to wonder if what she saw was actually what she did see, or did she hit her head and maybe black out for a while and entered into a dream state.

Sitting on the floor in her quilting room, Poulette was in a state of shock.

She paced the floor thinking about what to do, because she knew she had to do something. “I’ll have to tell Faustina, because I did see the other land, and she has to know about this. They are all filthy, mean dolls who want to harm us!”

Picking the hem of her dress up, like she does for the run-of-the-quilts, she jumped over the stack of unfolded quilts which were still scattered on the floor, and she walked at a very fast pace to Faustina’s house next door.

“Faustina!” she yelled from her front porch before she started to walk over to her house. “Oh Faustina, sha, I need to talk to you!”

The Queen looked out of the window and saw Poulette almost running towards her front door. “What in the name of Sha Bebe is going on with Poulette?” The Queen opened her front door at the same time that Poulette grabbed for the door knob, and she went tumbling inside of Faustina’s house, hitting her head on the key shaped coffee table in her living room.

“Are you okay? What happened?”

“Faustina, I have to talk to you,” she said with a troubled look, out of breath, and still sitting on the floor. “I have to tell you what just happened to me, and what I saw.”

“Tell me what? You’re scaring me with that look on your face. What happened?”

“Faustina, there’s another doll land on the other side of here, and they know about us and our land on this side.” She took in deep breathes.

“Another doll land…like ours…on the other side?” The Queen was puzzled. “On the other side of what? Where?” Faustina shrugged her shoulders.

“On the other side of my armoire.”

Faustina sent a grimace with a look of discontent at Poulette who was still sitting on the floor. “Dolls on the other side of your armoire? You saw dolls,” she paused, “on the other side of your armoire.” Faustina didn’t feel like playing games. “Are you starting Halloween early? I don’t feel like playing trick or treat now.”

“No, Faustina. Just hear me out.” Poulette was becoming embarrassed, but continued to tell the Queen what happened. “I fell though the back of my armoire,” she took another deep breath, “and when I broke through the back of my armoire, I was floating in mid-air, and I tell you, I saw another land with dolls who are not nice!” She shook her head. “Not nice at all. They’re mean!”

Poulette was upset. “Faustina, they know about our land, sha. When they saw me in the air on my flying quilt, their Queen yelled to the dolls on the other side to shoot me down with steel balls, because they wanted to take the stuffing out of me!”

Faustina, helped her up from the floor, took her hand, and helped her to sit on the couch. “I’ll get you some lemon water. I think you hit your head too hard on my key table.”

“Faustina!” Poulette yelled at the Queen which startled her. “Listen to me!” she grabbed her hands while she was sitting on the couch, spilling the glass of lemon water on the floor. “I fell at my house into my armoire, sha. It’s there I saw another doll land. You need to know that there are other dolls who are not nice…oh, not nice at all, who know about this land. They are dressed in…”

Poulette hesitated. If she went into what the other dolls were wearing, for sure the Queen would think she was dreaming. All of them wore something almost exactly like the costumes they talked about wearing for Halloween at breakfast.

“Faustina, if you could come with me, and help me find where I went through the hole, you’ll see what I’m saying is true.”

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